Yep, you read that title right, and now you may be asking ‘how is that even possible?’ Wellll….. let me tell you.
But first, let me tell you how I came to recognize this as homesickness. You see, I have come to quite enjoy blogging, and my favorite part is coming up with the title. You can ask any member of my team, I will come up with a title and share it before I come up with the blog itself. So, in my fashion, I had a title for this blog picked out before I started writing it, In Desperate Need of a Heart Transplant—catchy, right? However, that title would have been only a partial truth.
You see, this past week all of the teams on our squad got their next month ministry details and three of the teams on my squad are going to Lesvos, Greece to work with and minister at a refugee camp—specifically Moria camp—and if you couldn’t guess, my team was not one of the three. And oh man was I ever jealous and needed a change of heart… or so I thought; however, in reality, I was/am homesick.
Now, I’ve never been to Greece, let alone the island of Lesvos, nor am I Grecian by heritage; however, back in October 2015, when my sister was a World Racer (Y-Squad, September 2015) they had been emergency rerouted to Lesvos, Greece as relief workers during the heat of the Syrian refugee crisis—and let me tell you, the stories that I heard, and the pictures that I saw, from her and her squad’s time there radically, and permanently, changed my perspective of life from there on out. I wanted so badly to drop all of my schooling (something I loved—actually, I’m one of the only people I know that cried while turning in their senior thesis project because I did not want to be done with my undergrad just yet), buy a plane ticket to Greece, and just go help—all I wanted to do was help, help and love. I didn’t know how; but I had a yearning to go there because the fact that the lives of all of those refugees had been turned upside-down and it was completely out of their control completely devastated me and pulled on every single one of my heart strings. However, I also knew that it wasn’t my time—it was my sister’s time to quote-in-quote, be there “for such a time as this”—I was in a period of waiting.
Cycling back to why I am homesick for Lesvos, you need to know just a little bit more about my back story and why I chose to apply for the route I am on—Y-Squad, Sept. 2015’s route (my sister’s route) went as follows: Serbia/Montenegro, Albania, Greece/Macedonia, South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam (Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia); and X-Squad, Aug. 2017’s route (my route) is as follows: Serbia/Albania, Romania, Bulgaria/Greece, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Lesotho, South Africa, Namibia, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic (Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, Caribbean)—the only country that appears in both lists, that is not bolded, is Greece—probably single-handedly the country on my sister’s route that changed her life the most, specifically because she was there working with the refugees on the island of Lesvos. And if you couldn’t see, there are quite a few countries that are the same for both squads.
I chose my route on purpose, with that in mind; because I wanted to feel close to my big sister and follow in her footsteps every step of the way. So what I initially thought was jealousy towards the other teams that are going to Greece, is actually homesickness and a longing to feel close to my sister once again. Now don’t get me wrong, I still have a yearning to go help refugees in Greece, and so there is still a little bit of disappointment there, but truly I just miss my sister—my best friend and other half.
Besides, my “for such a time as this” calling for the month of October 2017 is to be working with Muslims in Bulgaria, and I am stoked! Who knows, after these next 9.5 months I will still have the rest of my life to be able to go back to Greece to come alongside refugees; although, I hope and pray that that will never happen. Why? Because I hope and pray that there will no longer be refugees; not just in Greece, but in the entire world. After all, we serve a great and powerful God who created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1) who has the ability to house all of the refugees in the entire world, so why not dream big and impossible dreams in the name of Jesus? But until then, we are called to be His hands and feet and we are prepared to do the work He has called, and predestined, us to do (Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 2:12-13).
However, on the topic of three teams going to Lesvos, Greece, they have to fundraise over an additional $2000 to be able to offset the costs—by October 17, 2017. Although, I am not fully-funded for my trip, I have been blessed to be funded past my closest deadline this month, and have until the middle of November to finish my fundraising—which means that the due date for the fundraising for the teams going to Lesvos, is closer then my own next deadline.
So, because I am believing in faith that I will be fully-funded by November, I am asking you to prayerfully consider donating to their cause in order to help the teams be able to make an impact in a place that is so dear to my heart, even if I have never been there—my heart broke for the refugees in 2015 and will not be mended until they are all taken care of, no matter how long it takes.
If you are considering donating, go to: http://give.adventures.org/campaign.asp?campaignid=4136. Their additional funds are being raised through this URL, not on any racers individual blog pages, in order for AIM to be able to give the money directly to the teams that will be the hands and feet of Christ in Lesvos.
Lastly, if you would pray for me, my team, and my squad, I would truly appreciate it. Homesickness is real, can be paralyzing at times, and can be one of the devil’s ways of trying to send people back to the States early.
Thanks for listening.
Sincerely,
Bethany
For your viewing pleasure, below are three pictures of my sister while working on Lesvos, Greece with the refugees, and then a picture of her and I together one of the first few days she was back from the race.
